Manufacture of trouser flies



Filed June 16, 1953 FIG. 2

FIG.

INVENTOR GEORGE WALDES,

ATTORNEY United States Patent MANUFACTURE OF TROUSER FLIES Wa d Jack nHe ghts, Y" ass gno t Wa des Kohin or, Inc-i Lon I a d C Y" a rrmm n ofNew York Application June 16,1953, Serial No. 361,972

2 claims. tci. 2- -23 1) This invention relates to improvements in themanufacture of trouser flies, and, more particularly, to an improvedmethod of assembling and attaching a slide fastener or so called zipperclosure on and to the fly strip of a trouser fly unit.

In the manufacture of zipper closures for trouser fly openings, it wasearlier the usual practice to sew a complete zipper of the requiredlength to a pair of fly strips which had been previously cut to desiredlength and to the required curvature at their crotch ends. To overcomethe numerous handling and relatively time-consuming operations involvedin the prior practice, it was later proposed to separately attach eachof the zipper stringers to its fly strip by feeding successive lengthsof a continuous zipper stringer, i. e. a stringer devoid of elementfreespaces characterizing the conventional slide fastener stringer, from aroll or spool on to a preformed fly strip, thereupon sewing said partstogether, and finally cutting the stringer to the length of thepreformed fly strip. While improving the earlier procedure to someextent, the later procedure nevertheless also involved considerablehandling of the fly strips both in their performing and in properlyrelating them to the continuous zipper stringer for the subsequentsewing and final cutting operations.

With the above in mind, a principal object of the invention is theprovision of a method of attaching zipper closures to the fly strips ofa trouser fly closure, which is simpler, faster and more economical inits practice than the prior methods as outlined in the foregoing.

A more particular object of the invention is the provision of acontinuous method of assembling and attaching a zipper stringer on to afly strip, which does away with any necessity of precutting andpreforming either the stringer or fly strip to the length and shaperequired thereof for use as a trouser fly closure, prior to the sewingoperation.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a method of formingtrouser fly closures characterized in that the zipper stringer and flystrip components thereof are cut to desired length and shape in a singleoperation following attachment of the stringer to the fly strip, andwherein such attachment is effected in continuous manner.

The above and other objects and advantages of the improved method ofthis invention will be seen from the following detailed descriptiontaken with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 generally illustrates the manner in which the zipper stringer iscontinuously assembled with and attached to the fly strip, and thecombined stringer and fly strip is thereupon fed to a cutting devicefunctioning to sever complete fly units from the combined stringer andfly strip advancing thereto. the view illustrating the method followedin forming the right-side fly units; and

Fig. 2 is a view illustrating the same method of assembly, attachmentand severance employed in the production of the opposite or left-sidetrouser fly units, the view additionally illustrating a completeleft-side fly unit 2,731,643 Patented Jan. 24," "1,956

severed from the combined zipper stringer and fly strip advancing-tetheroutt-ing'device.

Referring to Fig. 1, reference numeral 10 designates a reel or spool onwhich is wound an indeterminate length of fly strip material 11 andwhich is subsequently to he cut into lengths suitable for use as theflystrip of a trouser fly. Spaced from but pperative ly related to thespool 10 is another reel or spool 12 on which is wound an indeterminatelength of acontinuous slide fastener or zipper stringer 13, as the term"stringer" is herein-employed to includethe zipper tape 14 carryingalong one edge thereof a multiplicity of fastener elements 15 arrangedat'uniformly' spaced intervals along "the length of the edge to whichthey attach.

According to the invention, the zipper stringer 1-3 and the fly strip 11are drawn from the'spools Hand 10, respectively, at a uniform rate andare brought together in superimposed and laterally offset relation inadvance of being run through a sewing machine, not shown, In passingthrough the sewing machine, the zipper stringer 1-3 is progressivelysewn to the fly strip 11 by a longi tudinal line of stitches 16. U

The combined stringer and fly strip leaving thesewing machine as acontinuously moving web or'st'n'p may, for example, be wound on a spooland stored for use in making up individual fly units therefrom asrequired, in the manner hereinafter explained, or, as illustrated, itmay be fed at the uniform rate at which it leaves the sewing machinedirectly to a cutting device generally designated 17. Preferably, thecutting device has multiple cutting edges, of which the forward orleading edge is straight and disposed transversely to the length of thecombined stringer and fly strip, and the rear or trailing cutting edge19 has curvature corresponding to that required at the crotch end of atrouser fly unit. The cutting device 17 may be mechanically driven andits op eration is timed to the rate of feed motion'of the combinedstringer and fly strip advancing to it, so that, on each stroke, itscutting edge 18 severs from the end portion thereof a length whichcorresponds to that required for the particular trouser fly unit beingproduced. Due to the straight and transverse disposition of the cuttingedge 18, the edge of the fly unit which it forms is straight and normalto the length of said unit, as required for the top edge of such a unit.

In addition to its severing or cutting-off function as af0resaid, thecutting device 17 through its trailing cutting edge'19 also forms theend edge of the combined stringer and fly strip resulting after thecutting-off operation aforesaid to the curvature required at the crotchof the fly unit. Thus, each operation of the cutting device 17 resultsnot only in the production of a proper length of fly unit having astraight top edge, but it also forms the crotch-end edge for the nextsucceeding fly unit to be severed.

It will be understood from the illustrated curvature of the crotch-endedge formed as aforesaid that the fly unit produced according to Fig. lis for use as the rightside fly for the trouser opening. The left-sidefly may be formed in similar manner, with the exception that, inassembling the fly strip 21 and fastener or zipper stringer 22, the flystrip is preferably superimposed on the stringer, and said parts arerelated laterally so that the edge of the stringer tape which is devoidof the fastener elements 23 extends beyond the corresponding edge of thefly strip, so that the latter extends in covering relation to thefastener elements generally as illustrated. It is also to be understoodthat the cutting device 17a employed in severing the right-side fly unitfrom the combined stringer and fly strip advancing to it is oppositelydisposed as respects the cutting device 17, with the result that thecurved cutting edge 19a thereof forms the crotch- 3 end edge to acurvature opposite that given by the cutting edge 19; that is to say, tothe curvature required at the crotch end of a left-side trouser fly. i

In actual practice of the above described method, it has beenestablished that zipper-type fly units may be manufactured at asubstantially faster rate and more economically than possible accordingto the prior methods. This follows from the fact that, according to thepresent method, it is no longer necessary to prefonn the fly strips inadvance of sewing them to the required lengths of zipper or slidefastener stringers; or of cutting the stringers to the length of thepreformed fly strips when the stringers are supplied in a continuouslength. On the other hand, according to the present method, continuouslengths of both zipper stringer and fly strip may be sewn togetheruninterruptedly and thereupon continuously fed in a linear path to acutting device which'effects severance therefrom of a fly unit ofrequired length and, simultaneously therewith, cuts the edge of theadvancing combined stringer and fly strip which is to form the crotchend of the next fly unit to be severed to the required curvature.

As the method of the present invention may be varied without departingfrom the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims, it isintended that all matter contained in the above description or shown inthe accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not ina limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A method of manufacturing trouser flies, which comprises the steps ofprogressively associating a continuous slide fastener stringer with acontinuous strip of fly piece material, sewing said stringer and flystrip together in a continuous operation, causing the combined stringerand fly strip to move in a linear path, severing from the advancing endof said combined stringer and fly strip a succession of lengths thereofcorresponding to the desired length of trouser fly, and in each saidsevering operation simultaneously forming a straight top-end edge oneach severed length and a curved end edge on the advancing end of thecombined stringer and fly strip, the curvature of which corresponds tothat of the bottom crotch-end edge of a trouser fly.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the continuous stringer andthe continuous strip of fly-piece material are each drawn from anindeterminate length thereof arranged in roll formation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,166,350 Freshman July 18, 1939 2,364,062 Fleischer Dec. 5, 19442,574,351 Rohrlick et al. Nov. 6, 1951 2,623,214 Yafie Dec. 30,19522,697,227 Prupis et al Dec. 21, 1954

